CRUEL bear bile farms in Vietnam are being increasingly shunned by tourists following a campaign by Brit charity Animals Asia.

It warned the main customers, Korean tourists, they could be arrested for buying the banned bile.The number of tour firms and tourists visiting bile farms in Halong Bay has plunged by more than half in three years.

Animals Asia has a £1 million sanctuary in a Vietnamese national park where it is caring for 107 bears rescued from the living hell of bile farms.

In the farms the bears are kept in cages for up to 30 years with catheters permanently inserted into their bellies to "milk" their bile.

The torture leaves them in agony and vulnerable to illnesses including cancer.

The bile is used in traditional medicine even though many herbal and synthetic alternatives are available.

Bear bile farming is illegal in Vietnam but farmers exploit loopholes to continue their cruel trade.

So Animal Asia targeted the consumers of the bile - particularly Koreans who visit the farms around the tourist hotspot of Ha Long Bay.

Last year an Animals Asia team went to South Korea to meet tourism leaders and appeal via the media for Koreans not to sign up to tours that included bear bile farms visits.

And in Vietnam it leaves leaflets in hotels used by Koreans explaining the horrors of bear bile farming.

The charity has also put up banners over the roads in Vietnamese, English, Korean and Chinese declaring: “Bear bile extraction and trade in bear bile, bear parts and products violate the law of Vietnam and international conventions."

The number of tour companies organising bear farm visit for tourists in Ha Long Bay has dropped from six to two since 2012 while the number of bear bile tourists has dropped by more than half.

Animals Asia founder and CEO, Jill Robinson MBE said: “The reports of this dwindling market are encouraging. It’s clear the message is getting across and demand is falling. Risking arrest in order to perpetuate cruelty isn’t much of a decision when the facts are spelt out.

"Animals Asia staff in Vietnam are doing an incredible job in ensuring this message is received and understood.”